This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
It's been six months since Zach got COVID, and he hasn't yet recovered. Zach — a previously fit, healthy 33-year-old attorney who's the son of two good friends — was never admitted to a hospital, because of an acute shortage of ICU beds. But over two months of coronavirus hell, he developed pneumonia, struggled for breath, coughed constantly, shivered under three blankets, and barely slept or ate. His chest felt like it was on fire. "There wasn't an inch of my body (truly) that wasn't in excruciating pain," he recounted in a Facebook post last week. Despite sophisticated medical care and an endless battery of tests, his chest still aches, he's breathless after a short walk, and he's too weak to work. Zach is one of a largely invisible legion of "long-haulers" — COVID survivors who continue to suffer a host of mystifying maladies. Studies suggest that about three-quarters of those who get very sick remain ill for months. No one knows if and when long-haulers will return to their pre-COVID selves. "For now, this is my normal," Zach said.
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